Kids at Work
The pros and cons of using students as technology workers
By Kathleen Vail
 |
Smyer (Texas)
High School graduating senior John Wood works in the school's
"hack lab" repairing computers. Wood plans to study
computer science in college. |
John Wood was known as a hacker. He tinkered with computers,
trying to break into the school's network and sometimes crashing
the machines. His antics at Smyer High School in Smyer, Texas,
frustrated his teachers so much that they banned him from the
network.
When Penny Rainey started her job as technology director at
the Smyer Independent School District, teachers warned her about
Wood. But Rainey didn't see the boy as a troublemaker. Instead,
she saw promise. "I thought, These teachers are afraid of what
he knows. We need to channel his energy." He seemed determined
to take apart the machines, so Rainey asked him to help repair
one. He was hooked.
Now a graduating senior, Wood has worked with Rainey as her
assistant, repairing computers, installing software, building
a server, and troubleshooting for the network. If he needed help,
he recruited other students in Rainey's computer class and assigned
jobs to them. He even trained teachers and community members to
use the Internet. In college, Wood plans to study computer science.
With guidance, a potentially disruptive student transformed himself
into a responsible young man with a bright future.
You probably have at least one John Wood in your school district
-- students with boundless energy who know more about computers
and the Internet than most of their teachers. And, if you're like
many school leaders, you might be tempted to make use of that
energy and expertise while giving your students valuable work
experience. School districts these days are purchasing more and
more sophisticated equipment, networks, and Internet connections.
But many districts budget most of their technology money on hardware
and software, leaving little to pay for installing and managing
the systems.
The industry standard is one technology specialist for every
60 users, a far cry from what goes in public schools. School districts
often employ a single technology director to oversee the district's
entire system and then ask teachers or others to take up the slack
at individual buildings. But the demand for technology expertise
often is greater than these few people can handle. So, all over
the country, students increasingly are being asked to install
cable, build and maintain web sites, run help desks, rebuild and
refurbish hard drives, and train teachers.
Proponents of this arrangement say the experience benefits the
students. "We help students arm themselves for real-time employment,"
says Bill Heise, who runs a help desk with high school students
at Pike County School System in Pikesville, Ky. Because workers
with these skills are in such high demand, students often receive
lucrative job offers during the summer and upon graduation. One
of the pioneers of student technology workers, Issaquah School
District in Issaquah, Wash., boasts that its tech students regularly
are recruited by nearby Microsoft, as well as other industry giants.
Educators such as Rainey and Heise point to other, less-tangible
advantages. Students who do tech work, they say, gain self-confidence
and learn to handle responsibility. "We treat them with dignity,"
says Judy Lindholm, technology director at Marshalltown School
District in Marshalltown, Iowa. "And they respond."
Despite the advantages to both students and schools, not everyone
is sold on the idea. Schools should not use children to make up
for failing to allocate money to professional development and
technical support, says Jamieson McKenzie, an education consultant
and editor of From Now On,
an online education technology journal. Students should not be
doing work meant for adults, he says -- expecting students to
provide technical support is no different than expecting them
to mow the school lawn or wash cafeteria dishes. "It's exploiting
children," says McKenzie. "There are lots of jobs that need to
be done, but we expect adults to do them."
George Hartnell, the network supervisor at Bellingham School
District, Bellingham, Wash., where McKenzie once was technology
director, says the added responsibility takes an emotional toll.
He has seen students crack under the weight of adult pressure
and expectation, he says, but some schools ignore the warning
signs of emotional meltdown. "When you get something for nothing,
it clouds your judgment," he says.
Where it's working
Still, a carefully thought out program can pay off for students
and schools alike, according to Pike County's Heise, a retired
U.S. Army officer who is a passionate advocate for student technology
workers. His student-run help desk at Pike County Central High
School, now in its second year, serves 28 schools and the administrative
offices. The district has up to 6,800 pieces of equipment -- computers,
routers, servers, networks -- that could potentially need attention.
Last year, Heise's students logged 2,700 calls.
Students get class credit for working on the help desk. Heise
interviews all candidates before they can register for the class.
He trains them to use a help desk software program called HEAT.
When a help desk client calls with a problem, the students can
punch in the symptoms and pull up a solution on the screen. If
the students can't resolve the problem themselves, they send a
work order to the appropriate vendor and track the vendor's progress
in solving the problem. As a result, Heise says, the district
has less downtime for its systems. And in addition to receiving
class credit, the students earn industry certification on the
software that they can parlay into jobs when they graduate. Also,
Heise points out, students are exposed to a professional office
atmosphere where they can learn and practice good telephone habits
and customer relations skills.
The help desk program has been so successful that Heise's students
have been asked to help another Kentucky school set up a similar
program. Heise adamantly disagrees with the notion that the program
might be exploiting the students. "Yes, we are saving money, of
course we are," says Heise. But, he points out, the district could
run a help desk with just Heise and the computer software. Allowing
the students to get involved gives them expertise they can use
when they graduate. "Who are we to try to shut them out of a job?"
he asks.
Another successful program is at the smaller Smyer School District
(enrollment 400) in Texas. When Penny Rainey joined the district
staff two years ago, she knew she wanted to have students help
her install cable and hook up classrooms to the Internet. Rainey
started a seventh-grade class and a high school class to teach
kids the basics of networking. Together, they designed the network,
pulled cable, installed the raceway, jacks, and faceplates. The
two classes also upgraded older computers and installed software.
Now some of the students are responsible for the district's
web site; others work with Rainey to train teachers, rebuild computers,
and help out when the systems break down -- all as part of their
coursework for the classes. Rainey says the students take pride
in what they are able to bring to their schools. "I asked them,
'Do you feel the Internet has made a significant difference in
your education?'" says Rainey. "They all said yes. It wouldn't
have happened without them."
Judy Lindholm, the technology director at Marshalltown, brought
the student technology idea home to her school district after
she'd seen a conference presentation by the Issaquah students.
She started a curriculum path called Computer Consultants, which
students begin in middle school and follow through high school.
For every hour of instructional time, the students log an hour
of service. Each of the program's 30 middle-schoolers and 24 high
school students are assigned to one of the district's nine buildings.
The classes meet in the morning before school starts. Students
serve as the tech experts for their schools, available to answer
questions from teachers, install software, repair hardware, and
perform other tasks.
The main concern at the start of the program was security, Lindholm
says. But giving these students access and responsibility, she
says, makes it less likely that they'll try to hack into areas
they shouldn't. "The kids aren't going in wildly making changes,"
says Lindholm. "These kids are the sheriffs, not the bad guys."
In Bellingham, in northwest Washington (enrollment 10,000),
George Hartnell makes a distinction between having students do
system work and having them do application work. Bellingham students
do what Hartnell calls user support: helping teachers retrieve
lost documents, making sure the computer prints to the correct
printer, installing virus-scan software. He's reluctant, though,
to have students do any of the actual tech work, such as installing
network components. "The students need to be kept aware that the
goal is for a liberal education," Hartnell says. "They're not
going to tech school here."
 |
Smyer seventh-graders
wired the middle school. After measuring and cutting cable,
they labeled it by classroom. |
Advice for starting a program
If you want to begin a student tech worker program in your school
district, here are a few things to consider:
* Make sure the community knows what you're doing. Parents and
other residents might perceive that students are being used as
cheap labor unless they're kept informed of what's going on. Rainey
says she was able to win over the small community of Smyer by
being visible and getting to know people. "They knew I wasn't
out to hurt the kids," she says.
* Make sure the program has an educational element. In some
schools, says Hartnell, tech-savvy students are pulled out of
their classes to solve computer problems. This practice deprives
students of valuable class time, says Hartnell. It also allows
teachers to become overly dependent on these students, instead
of trying to learn more on their own. Give students class or internship
credits for their work and make it clear that they are to work
only during scheduled times. Jamieson McKenzie suggests that if
schools are going to provide this kind of technology work experience,
they should also provide other career apprenticeships. That way,
he says, all students -- not just a small group of technology
experts -- can gain work experience.
* Make sure the students are supervised and mentored. Professional
staff should be in full charge of student technology workers.
It's unwise for students to know more about the computer systems
and networks than the adults in the building. When these students
graduate, they take their knowledge with them. Also, says Hartnell,
students who were the computer gurus of their schools may have
inflated egos that make it difficult to adjust to jobs in the
real world.
* Keep the pressure off. Although students know a great deal
about computers and technology, they are still children or young
adults. Being in charge of a network is a stressful job, even
for a 30-year-old. Students under this kind of pressure often
let their grades and other activities slip. Hartnell once attended
a technology conference where he saw a presentation by a school
where the systems administrators were two 16-year-olds. The school
had suffered a network failure the day before, and the teens showed
the strain. "These girls were old before their time," says Hartnell.
* Keep an eye on security. Concerned that student workers will
tamper with confidential documents on school computers, some districts
refuse to give students any access to the network. But there's
such a thing as too much access as well. According to the Los
Angeles Times, members of the California School Employees Association
in the Irvine Unified School District, Irvine, Calif., expressed
concern to the district's human resources department about student
workers. A union representative said that although employees go
through security checks before they're hired, student workers
had access to grades, personnel records, attendance, and personal
e-mail. Too much access is a temptation even to the most serious
student worker, says Hartnell.
Kathleen Vail
is an associate editor of Electronic School.
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